FC Halifax Town: We have to be more ruthless, says Wild

The Shaymen are without a victory since the opening game of the campaign, but face a tough test at second-placed Sutton, who lost 4-0 at Wrexham on Tuesday night.

“On reflection of watching the Torquay game back, we had eight good chances in the game, four of which were very good chances, and we’ve only scored one goal,” Wild said.

“They’ve had three chances, and scored two goals.

“So we’ve got to be more ruthless, that’s certainly our area of development, and it will be all week, being more ruthless and taking our chances.

“We’re still creating chance after chance after chance.

“The amount of times we split the league leaders open and the amount of times we’ve got at the league leaders, it was pleasing to watch it back and it reaffirms that this team’s building in a good way.
“We all know the area to develop, the players know that, we know that. We all know what bit we need to be better at, and if we do that, then we’ll be fine.

“And I have no doubt that we will do that.”

Only Dagenham and Rednridge have scored fewer goals in the National League than Halifax’s six.

When asked whether his side was suffering from a lack of confidence or a lack of quality in-front of goal, Wild said: “Maybe a little bit of both, it’s just having that ice in the belly when you get in-front of goal to score.

“On review of Notts County and Torquay, most players in our team have had a chance, whether that be a set-piece, a direct free-kick or attempt on goal.

“Nearly everybody who’s played in those two games has had a chance so we’ve all got to be better at our finishing. We know that and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out what we’ve been working on in training.”

But Wild doesn’t think there is a lack of confidence in his squad.

“I don’t think so, if you’d seen them on the training ground there’s certainly no lack of confidence.

“There’s a desire to get better, and there’s a desire to start turning these decent performances into wins.

“I’ve said in the past that we’re so close to being a good side, but that doesn’t mean we’re there yet, it means we’ve got to keep working hard and keep pushing and pushing.

“That’s what we’ve been doing on the training ground, and I think our hard work is going to pay off in the near future and we’re going to reap the fruits of our labour.”

What does Wild want to see from his side on Saturday?

“I want more of the same, I want intensity,” he said.

“Sutton have had a really good start, playing on 3G is always tough and in my opinion, there’s a certain way to play on 3G.

“We need to make sure we match that with an intensity and desire, and when we get the opportunities, we finish them off.

“If we show the intensity and desire that we showed in patches against Torquay and in bigger patches against Notts County, and we show the quality that we showed against them on the ball, and out of possession we narrow off a bit more and close them gaps a bit more, then we’ll be fine.

“It’s not as though in these games we’re a million miles off, we’re certainly not.

“But we’re not there yet so we’ve got to keep working hard and make sure we close that gap to being the good side I know they are.”

Sutton play on a 3G pitch at their Gander Green Lane ground.

“At the start of the week I said ‘right, name the problems this week’ and we talked about the surface, we talked about being away from home etc etc,” said Wild.

“But we’ve said ‘right, they are what they are, and if we have no excuses then there’s no explanations’.

“That’s my phrase this week, is ‘no excuses, no explanations’.”

Wild wasn’t allowed to attend Sutton’s game at Wrexham on Tuesday night due to lockdown restrictions so watched it on a live stream instead.

“I always thought last year when we played them home and away that Matt (Gray, Sutton manager) has got a really organised team there,” Wild said.

“They all know their jobs, they all work tirelessly for the manager.

“They really work as hard as they can and they make it tough for people.

“Don’t get me wrong, they’ve got an advantage of playing on that 3G.

“Some teams can go there and get carried away, get the ball down and play, and I think that’s where teams get caught out, trying to go and play nice, pretty football on 3G.

“They (Sutton) then know how to pressure, know what mistakes you’re going to make and I think it can be an advantage for them.

“But overall, I think their organisation, desire and willingness to work hard for each other is certainly something they’ve got right this year, and that’s why they’ve picked up so many points.

“Obviously Tobi (Sho-Silva) is there and the way Tobi plays really suits their style of play so I’m not surprised that they pushed the boat out to get Tobes.”

Follow all the action from Sutton v Halifax on Saturday afternoon with our Town writer Tom Scargill’s live blog at www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/sport/football/halifax-town.

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